


I Am A Tangerine

by ballpoint



Category: Marvel 616, New Avengers (Marvel)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Community: fic_promptly, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-12
Updated: 2010-09-12
Packaged: 2017-10-11 16:34:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/114419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ballpoint/pseuds/ballpoint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marvel Comics, Jessica Jones, Cabin fever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Am A Tangerine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Muccamukk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muccamukk/gifts).



> Disclaimer: Characters and their respective trademarks are the property of Marvel Comics.

Stark Tower might have been the size of a small principality, Jess fumed. Or it might have been big enough to have its own shot at statehood and flag, but _god_ (lower case, not upper case, because she was a card carrying agnostic), this place was so freaking small.

At first, it didn't seem this small, she admitted, while rocking Dani in her arms, making distracted soothing noises that seemed to keep her in a state of -- that drooling thing that babies did - what would she know? She only gave birth to her kid, the manual was still being written.

Jess placed a hand against the glass, seeing her reflection as it faded into the view of the city below through the glass, and wondered -

"Jess," Carol said, coming into the room with a platter of vegetables and dip and a bottle wrapped in a warmed towel. She set it down on the table nearest to her, and Jess murmured her thanks.

"No problem," Carol waved her hand in a dismissive gesture, and Jess raised an eyebrow at the gash across Carol's cheek.

"Where did you get that?"

"Oh, this?"

"Don't tell me that's not from shopping. I'll believe you. The crowds get worse every year. Damned sales." Jess said, as she gently placed Dani in her cot by the window. Dani liked looking out at the sky, stretching her chubby fingers, opening and closing as if she could break off the buildings with her hands.

(Please, please, please, unnamed entity, if you do exist and might be all-powerful, don't let my kid become a supervillian. A teenager is bad enough, thank you. Oh, and ixnay on the powers bit while you're at it, mmmkay?)

"No," Carol flopped across the sofa, kicking her legs up. "I got this tangling with Doombots. Another day, another scrap, you know how it goes."

"No," Jess said, her voice sounding sharper than she wanted it to. "I don't."

"Hey," Carol sat up. "Jess, are you okay?"

"I'm fantastic. I get up, feed Dani, watch the soaps, feed Dani. I watch you guys come back, fresh from battle, doing debriefings, joke, all while feeding Dani. Yeah, I'm _fine_."

Carol snapped a carrot in two, dipped one end into a dollop of hummus. "You can be Jewel again, if you wanted to, Jess."

"No, no, no," Jess shook her head, her hair spilling from its sloppy ponytail and over her shoulders. "Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and marinated in the epic fail."

"You were a teenager, then," Carol munched thoughtfully at her carrot stick. "You're different now."

"I'm a _mom_ now," Jess sighed, as she dropped on the sofa beside her friend. "Whatever that means."

"You don't know?"

Jess gave Carol a long, bland stare. Then, because she couldn't be mad at Carol for long (damn her), she slouched even further in the sofa.

"No," Jess answered. "All I know is, I'm stuck here all the time, and I want to get out and do something, be _something_ more than - this, and yet I'm sitting here like a tangerine."

"And you don't want to put on the costume again."

"Not everyone can fill out a costume like you, Carol," Jess eyed her friend. All stacked and toned, and all that flying made her hair have that artful tussle and volume.

Carol knew her too well to be hurt by the peevish answer, but still- "Sorry," Jess said.

"You don't have to -" Carol began, only to be interrupted by the _zzzt_ of her Avengers card. She shot to her feet, and run off with a breathy, "Gotta go!"

Jess felt the windows almost rattle as Carol rocketed past five minutes later, and sighing, she morosely chewed a carrot stick.

Jesus, this place was too frigging small.


End file.
